


Poofs & Tweed

by Holtzmannsgirlfriend



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Consider these my apology for my last piece, F/F, Fluff, Holtzbert Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-11-29 23:25:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11451240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holtzmannsgirlfriend/pseuds/Holtzmannsgirlfriend
Summary: Just two nerds in love. Happy Holtzbert week!!





	1. Roller Derby

Their sole bust of the day was a doozy: an angry Class IV that took a special disliking to the team's spunky engineer, picking her up and tossing her across the room three times before the team managed to capture it in their beams and destroy it.

Finally back at the firehouse, she attempts to rise from the backseat of the Ecto but falls back with a groan, hand clutching her side.

Erin offers her hand. "You should get some ice on that pronto", she points in the direction of Holtzmann's obviously cracked ribs.  
"Yeah, probably. You wanna help nurse me back to health, hot stuff?" The blonde replies with a wink, beyond satisfied with the blush quickly spreading across the physicist's face.

Brushing it off with an eye roll, she slowly pulls the engineer to a standing position and scurries off to the kitchen in search of an ice pack, ignoring the smirks of both Abby and Patty.

\-----------------

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital, Holtz? That looks really bad."

Smiling at the concern in the physicist's voice, Holtzmann scoffs and waves the idea away. "Please, I survived way worse than this back in my derby days. I can handle it."

"Derby days?" Erin asks, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Yup. You know, roller derby?"

She thinks for a minute before her eyes suddenly grow wide. "Wait...you mean, those girls on skates that...push each other around? You did that?!"

Holtz laughs. "Why, yes I did. All through high school." She closes her eyes and smiles, nodding her head. "Good times."

As Holtzmann reminisces, Erin takes the opportunity to imagine a sweaty Holtz zooming around the ring and immediately feels a familiar pull in her stomach.

"Do...um...do you still play?" she barely gets the words out, still imagining the engineer in uniform.

Holtzmann opens one eye and smirks at the suddenly red faced physicist. "From time to time. Is that something you're interested in seeing, Gilbert?" she replies, voice low.

"I..I think I would be interested in seeing that, yes."

Sitting up slowly, she moves closer until her lips are at the physicists ear. "That can be arranged."

With the pull in her stomach reaching levels of ferocity she didn't know existed, Erin throws all discretion to the wind and smashes her lips against the engineer's.

The kiss is sloppy and wet and better than she ever dreamed, feeling like a living cliché when the stars appear and dance around her eyelids. She tangles her fingers in wild blonde hair and closes her fists, holding on like she's seconds away from falling off the planet.

The engineer gasps before brushing her tongue across Erin's lips, seeking permission, and the physicist eagerly accepts.

After a few minutes they pull apart, both panting and burning inside. Holtzmann presses a soft kiss to Erin's jaw and sighs happily.

"Damn, Gilbert. If I knew I'd get this reaction I would've whipped out my skates months ago."


	2. Swiss Army Knife

_"Wow, what does it do?"_

_"It's a Swiss army knife. No woman should walk around unarmed."_

_"I know what it does."_

...

Erin mindlessly ran her fingers across the smooth body of the knife in her pocket, her mind occupied with other things.

It had been the strangest month of her life. She lost the career of her dreams (or so she once thought), but in turn she gained a purpose, and a family.

And Jillian. Funny, eccentric, wonderful, beautiful Jillian. She smiles to herself at the thought.

Erin may be neurotic, she may be uptight, but she's not stupid. There is obviously something, some mutual attraction, between the two of them. Sparks fly when they make eye contact. Mountains move when the engineer speaks. And when they touch Erin swears she can hear a chorus of angels singing sweetly.

_...and it scares you. That's the problem._

Caught up in the game of What If, Erin was paralyzed. It seemed as though the engineer was waiting for Erin to give her the signal, to let her know without a doubt that she wanted this too. But even the thought alone left her tongue tied in knots.

What if she was imagining the way Holtz looked at her? What if Erin wanted more than the engineer was willing to give? It felt like they were trapped in a purgatory of sorts...doomed to exist _just_ out of reach of the other.  
Right as the physicist's thoughts began to spiral into a dark place, her fingers brushed across a deep indentation in the plastic.

Pulling the knife from the pocket of her jumpsuit, she examined the markings.

_J.H._

The letters were crooked and slightly misshapen, as though they'd been carved by a child. She ran her fingers over the letters and smiled, imagining a tiny wild haired Holtzmann carefully carving her initials into the knife, her tongue peaking out from the corner of her mouth and brows furrowed in concentration.

"You having a staring contest or something?"

Startled, Erin practically leapt from her chair, almost throwing the knife across the room in the process.

Holtzmann tried, and failed, to hold back her laughter. Erin smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, hot stuff. Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay. I was just...lost in thought, I guess."

The engineer slowly nods her head and walks across the room to her workbench, smiling softly.

"My grandpa gave me that when I was 9. Told me to keep the knife in my pocket and a smile on my face so I'd always have everything I needed."

"Oh, wow. That's so sweet." She smiles down at the knife, turning it over in her hand. "It must be so important to you...I don't understand why you'd give it away."

Holtzmann shrugs and looks nervously to the ceiling.

"You're important to me. Now you have everything you need and I can rest easy." She winks.

Erin blushes at the wink, a warm feeling spreading throughout her body. She shakes it off.

"But what about you?"

Holtzmann playfully rolls her eyes and laughs as she walks the short distance across the room.

She stops inches from the physicist, cupping her cheek and stroking it softly with her thumb.

"Oh, Er," she sighs.

"I already have everything I need."


	3. Movie Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a completely different idea for today's theme in my head (super dooper smutty), but no matter how many times I typed it out it just didn't work. So this one is shorter than the others...and I played pretty loosely with the prompt.

"Jillian! Will you please be quiet?! I definitely have no interest in listening to the lecture Patty and Abby will give us if they walk in here and see me with my hand down your pants!"

"That's true...they'd be so jealous." Holtzmann pants, wiggling her eyebrows with a smirk.

Erin giggles and playfully slaps the engineer's arm with her free hand, shushing her once more before biting her lip and resuming the movement of her fingers. The blonde leans her head back against the wall and sighs before letting out another high pitched moan. The physicist presses their lips together to muffle the sound as she curls her fingers.

"Hey guys, the movie is about to start! Hurry up!" Abby yells from downstairs. Erin quickly pulls her hand from the engineer's pants, resulting in a whine.

"Baaaaabe! I was almost there!" she pouts, burying her face in the crook of the physicists neck.

She smiles and nudges Holtzmann's head up with her chin, pressing a quick kiss to her frowning lips. "Come on, I'll make it up to you later. I promise." Holtz crosses her arms across her chest and falls back into the wall.

"I bet the movie is gonna suck anyway," she mumbles, eyes on the floor in front of her.

The physicist lets out a hearty laugh at her girlfriend's temper tantrum and rolls her eyes. "Wow, what are you, five? Come on!" She grabs the blonde's hand and pulls her off the wall, guiding her down the stairs to the couch.


	4. Laundry Day

Erin Gilbert loved routine.

Awake at 6:15, sharp

In the shower by 6:20

Dressed, ready, and sitting at her desk, definitely not staring at a certain engineer, by 7:15, sharp

And at 11 AM on Tuesdays, she does laundry. Every single Tuesday. No reason in particular, it just always seemed like a good day for laundry.

She loves the mechanism of it; carrying her hamper to the laundry room, emptying its contents into the waiting washing machine, scooping and pouring the detergent, turning the knob, pulling it up, and listening contently as the water fills the drum. She looked forward to laundry day all week because...it was soothing, the routine of it. It never changed. Call her crazy, but Laundry Tuesdays were a constant that had followed Erin throughout every change in her life. Maybe that's why they were so important.

\---------

She's sitting on the edge of her bed mechanically folding her clothes, lost in thoughts about numbers and blondes and what she'll eat for lunch, when a quick series of knocks startles her back to the present. She presses a hand to her chest and gives a quick "Come in!", trying her best to keep the agitation at the interruption out of her voice.

The door opens to reveal a smirking Holtzmann, clad in a ragged crop top and boxers, holding something behind her back.

This was the most skin the physicist had ever seen on the engineer and the sight left her mouth bone dry. She averts her eyes and nervously chews at her thumb nail, taking a series of deep breaths as quietly as she can.

"Hey, Er."

"H-Hey, Holtz. What...uh, what can I do for you?" she barely musters, still avoiding eye contact.

_Smooth, Erin. Smooth._

"Oh, nothing. I was just putting my clothes in the dryer and I thought I'd return these."

Erin quickly glances upward to see the engineer biting her lip to stifle a giggle. Held up in front of her chest with the index finger of either hand is a pair of lacy black underwear.

The physicist's face reddens deeply as she immediately recognizes them as her own.

"Oh...I-I...um..." Erin stammers, too embarrassed to form an actual sentence. Holtzmann snorts before crossing the room, using her fingers like a slingshot to shoot the underwear onto the mattress next to the physicist. She sits on the mattress and places a hand on Erin's shoulder, the physicist shuddering at her touch.

"You okay, hot stuff? I'm pretty sure it's not normal to have that much blood in your face." the engineer says with a playful grin.

"Y-yes, I'm fine." she manages, quickly taking a deep breath to compose herself. "Thank you for...returning them. I thought I grabbed everything."

"No worries, Er," the engineer pats Erin's shoulder as she stands. "I'm a boxers gal, myself, but I'm sure you look smokin' in these." she winks.  
  
"I doubt that, Holtzmann," Erin laughs, the idea of herself looking sexy in anything seeming so absurd. "But thanks."

"Doubt what?", the engineer frowns.

"That I look smokin' in these."

The blonde laughs as she makes her way across the room, locking the door. Turning around, she smirks and raises one eyebrow.  
  
"Wanna bet?"


	5. Alternate Universe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Childhood AU's are my absolute favorite and this is the first time I've written one, so I hope I did it justice. I just really love the idea of Holtz and Erin protecting each other as kids. :)

"Jill?"

"Hmm?" the blonde answers, mouth full of Pringles.

"I'm scared. What if she finds us up here? What if she tries to hurt me this time? What if she hurts you? What if sh--"

Holtz wipes the chip crumbs off her lips and quiets Erin with a quick kiss to the back of her hand, followed by a big, happy smile.

"Don't be scared, Er! I'm here and I'm gonna protect you. I'd never let anything or anyone hurt you, especially not some ugly old ghost lady."

She runs a hand through her wild blonde curls and scratches the back of her head, glancing out of the doorway to the treehouse as she does.

She sees the sun setting and sighs. Erin always gets scared when it's dark, and she hates it when Erin is scared.

"How are you gonna stop a ghost, Jillian? A super mean ghost, by the way! I don't think we can stop her from..." the small brunette trails off, halting the anxious bouncing of her leg only to slide deeper into her sleeping bag and pull it up over her face, until only her wide eyes are peaking out.

There were so many butterflies dancing around her stomach that it made her wonder if they were causing physical damage. They'd shown up the week before, following the first appearance of the neighbor lady's ghost, and had yet to go away.

Sometimes they settled down, sometimes it felt like only 10 or 20 butterflies instead of thousands, but it was still unbearable. The only thing that could make her feel any better was Jillian.

She took a few deep breaths and told herself everything would be okay, just like her mom had instructed her to do when she became overwhelmed in school, but it had little effect.

"Jill...what if she kills us or something?" her shaky voice muffled by the sleeping bag.

"Nah, no way. I'll never let that happen," the blonde replied. She glances over to her friend and feels a shooting pain in her chest when she sees the panic in her eyes.

Seeing Erin upset always made Jillian's chest hurt in a way she didn't really understand, but accepted anyway. She never wanted Erin to be scared or sad or hurt in any way. So when the brunette had tearfully shared her ghost secret as they walked home from school the day prior, she knew she had to fix it.

After giving Erin a gappy, reassuring smile, she turns and rummages through her backpack, throwing clothes and screwdrivers and loose candy wrappers over her shoulder until she finds it.

She smiles proudly and hands her friend a heap of tangled wires and metal, stuck to what looked like a thermometer, and winks.

Erin sits up in her sleeping bag and takes the contraption. "What's it do?" she asks, eyeing it skeptically.

Jillian grins and claps, rubbing her hands together.

"You know how in all the horror movies the room gets cold when the ghost is there? Well this machine," she pauses to point to the contraption, "should beep like crazy when it detects a change in temperature. It'll wake me up so I can karate chop her ass!"

Erin laughs and shushes her, not wanting her parents to hear the swearing. But her smile is quickly replaced with a frown.

She hands the machine back to Jill and looks toward the door of the treehouse.

"What if it doesn't work?"

Jillian raised an eyebrow and puffed out her lips, like she had never considered the idea. She hadn't considered it, actually. Her inventions always worked, and this one was too important not to. It was the most important thing she had ever made.

"It beeped both times I put it in the freezer, so I'm not worried," she smiles.

Hating to see her favorite person in the world so terrified, she scoots closer and takes Erin's hand in her own.

"I promise I won't let her hurt you, Er. I would never let anything bad happen to you, okay?"

Erin nods and scoots closer to her friend, laying her head on the blonde's shoulder.

The treehouse was mostly dark now, save for Jillian's book light clipped to one of the floorboards. The thought of soon being defenseless and engulfed in the dark, with or without Jill, made the butterflies dance hectically.

Erin glanced over to the doorway again, distracting herself by identifying the parts of her friend that she could still make out in the dimming light.

Dirty feet covered in soot from the blacktop, bruised shins, scraped knees...She could just barely make out the shape of her hand in Jill's, so she held it tighter, as if the darkness would steal her away too.

She feels herself start to cry, and once she starts she can't stop.

"It's almost dark, Jill," she whimpers, clutching the blonde's hand so tightly that her knuckles go white. "She'll be here soon. I know it."

Jillian untangles their fingers and wraps her arm around Erin's shoulders, pulling her closer.

Sitting stone-faced up against the wall of the treehouse, she kisses the top of the brunette's head before resting her own head on top of it, nudging it softly with her chin.

"Don't be scared, I'm here," she whispers, repeating it over and over again like a mantra into the brunette's hair until she feels her friend relax.

She glances down to see Erin sleeping peacefully against her shoulder and smiles before turning her attention back to the door of the treehouse, a mean grimace quickly replacing her smile.

"Okay, ghosty," she snarls tauntingly into the darkness. "Come on out. Nobody hurts my best friend and gets away with it."


End file.
